Bob May
02-02-2009, 09:33 AM
Hi all,
I was reminded of something I have thought about over the years.
In a recent thread, Ron mentioned God's love for us and how He said, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased..." when Jesus was baptised.
This is what reminded me.
My old teacher/pastor said something once; "Once you are "Under Grace", you keep more laws accidentally than you ever did on purpose."
Or as I like to call it, "20/20 hindsight." In other words, until you experience something, you will not recognise it in Scripture. Then, later on, maybe even years later, you see something in Scripture that has happened to you.
So, lets look a bit at the life of Jesus skipping over the early years, except to say he was born in obscurity (as he arrives in our lives) and that at age twelve he astounded some very smart people because of the questions he asked them.
But let's look at Jesus for a moment in the light of 20/20 hindsight and see if his life reflects in ours. After all, he said "Follow me."
I won't carry this too far, but feel free to add anything to this thread.
Mat 3:16 "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Now, let's apply this to our lives.
First we recieve the Spirit. Without it we would not and could not believe.
The first thing the Spirit informs us of is that God is not mad at anyone. He loves us.
This is the beginnings of an awareness of Grace. Or "Favor" in God's eyes.
This, too, we cannot understand without the Spirit telling us it is so.
Next we will be tried.
Matthew 4
1 "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil."
3 "And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."
In my old church we did not take baptism lightly. We did not become baptised for many years thinking that we must be "worthy" first.
But long story short, a group of us were baptised and began to see more in Scripture and even had many things "happen" to us. We were breaking away from the "law mentality." We shared these things with other members at the pastor's request.
In the midst of this the other church members began to say things like "if you have the Spirit, let's see some miracles."
So we will be tempted by others and our own thoughts in much the same way as Jesus was.
The next thing we see Jesus doing in his life is very interesting...
11 "Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. 12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up."
Lu 4:14 "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. 22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words
This is as far as I'll take this, but I ask you to look at this pattern.
He found himself in Scripture.
Is this pattern happening or has it happened in your life?
And what would it mean to us to "find ourselves" in Scripture?
If the Father spoke and it was so. And Jesus only spoke the words that he heard from the Father, then wouldn't it be impossible to NOT FOLLOW him? That is if we, in fact, are those to whom those words were directed. (And I believe we are.)
So take a look at Scripture from the perspective that we are and have been following Jesus. Not by our own strength, but by the Spirit.
This will lead us to the point of realizing that we are, (or have been) following him all the way to the point of being crucified with him.
When we realize this we can say with Paul,...
Ga 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Rom 6:6 "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him."
Feel free to add any thoughts to this thread.
Bob
I was reminded of something I have thought about over the years.
In a recent thread, Ron mentioned God's love for us and how He said, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased..." when Jesus was baptised.
This is what reminded me.
My old teacher/pastor said something once; "Once you are "Under Grace", you keep more laws accidentally than you ever did on purpose."
Or as I like to call it, "20/20 hindsight." In other words, until you experience something, you will not recognise it in Scripture. Then, later on, maybe even years later, you see something in Scripture that has happened to you.
So, lets look a bit at the life of Jesus skipping over the early years, except to say he was born in obscurity (as he arrives in our lives) and that at age twelve he astounded some very smart people because of the questions he asked them.
But let's look at Jesus for a moment in the light of 20/20 hindsight and see if his life reflects in ours. After all, he said "Follow me."
I won't carry this too far, but feel free to add anything to this thread.
Mat 3:16 "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Now, let's apply this to our lives.
First we recieve the Spirit. Without it we would not and could not believe.
The first thing the Spirit informs us of is that God is not mad at anyone. He loves us.
This is the beginnings of an awareness of Grace. Or "Favor" in God's eyes.
This, too, we cannot understand without the Spirit telling us it is so.
Next we will be tried.
Matthew 4
1 "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil."
3 "And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."
In my old church we did not take baptism lightly. We did not become baptised for many years thinking that we must be "worthy" first.
But long story short, a group of us were baptised and began to see more in Scripture and even had many things "happen" to us. We were breaking away from the "law mentality." We shared these things with other members at the pastor's request.
In the midst of this the other church members began to say things like "if you have the Spirit, let's see some miracles."
So we will be tempted by others and our own thoughts in much the same way as Jesus was.
The next thing we see Jesus doing in his life is very interesting...
11 "Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. 12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up."
Lu 4:14 "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. 22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words
This is as far as I'll take this, but I ask you to look at this pattern.
He found himself in Scripture.
Is this pattern happening or has it happened in your life?
And what would it mean to us to "find ourselves" in Scripture?
If the Father spoke and it was so. And Jesus only spoke the words that he heard from the Father, then wouldn't it be impossible to NOT FOLLOW him? That is if we, in fact, are those to whom those words were directed. (And I believe we are.)
So take a look at Scripture from the perspective that we are and have been following Jesus. Not by our own strength, but by the Spirit.
This will lead us to the point of realizing that we are, (or have been) following him all the way to the point of being crucified with him.
When we realize this we can say with Paul,...
Ga 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Rom 6:6 "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him."
Feel free to add any thoughts to this thread.
Bob